QR-6, 9 February 2019, Statement of the Spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Hami Aksoy, in response to a question regarding serious human rights violations perpetrated against Uighur Turks and the passing away of folk poet Abdurehim Heyit.

The World Uyghur Congress (WUC) has joined the International Campaign for Tibet (ICT), the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), la Ligue des droits Humains, Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organisations (UNPO) and the Tibetan Community of Belgium in sending an open letter to the Director General and Editing Director of Belgian Newspaper Le Soir, Oliver De Raeymaeker, urging him to stop publishing propaganda inserts from official Chinese press bodies in his newspaper.

In anticipation of the official state visit of the Norwegian royal family, his Majesty King Harald and Queen Sonja, the Norwegian Foreign Minister Ine Eriksen Søreide and the rest of the large Norwegian deletation to China from 11-19 October 2018, the Norwegian Uyghur Committee (NUK) and the World Uyghur Congress strongly urges the delegation to publicly raise China’s abysmal human rights record, especially the mass arbitrary detention of 1 million Uyghurs, when meeting with Chinese officials.

European Union leaders should publicly and privately demand that China release those deprived of their liberty for exercising human rights, including poet Liu Xia, the widow of the late Nobel Peace Prize laureate Liu Xiaobo, and Swedish publisher Gui Minhai, Human Rights Watch said today in a joint letter with 23 other nongovernmental organizations.

The Society for Threatened Peoples (STP) has warned against restricting the freedom of independent non-governmental organizations at the United Nations (UN). “The influence of authoritarian states in the world organization continues to grow. Non-governmental organizations must not be silenced just because they draw attention to serious human rights violations,” said STP’s director Ulrich Delius.

Geneva, 26 February 2018 – In a private letter sent to select UN member states, nearly 20 human rights organisations called for clear and concrete actions to denounce China’s current rollback in respect for human rights at the UN Human Rights Council, which opens its session in Geneva today.